Watertown Public Schools

30 Common Street, Watertown MA 02472

Special Projects

Watertown Public Schools > Teaching & Learning

The Office of Teaching & Learning explores and initiates various innovative special projects. Currently we have several of these projects underway.

China Pathways

The China Pathways Program is a great chance to explore life, culture, history, the arts, and politics of China. Interesting mini-courses and exciting trips are planned which will give High School students a first-hand glimpse of life in the past, present, and future of China. The China Pathways Program is an opportunity for Watertown students to learn about China and Chinese culture by participating in summer mini-courses and then traveling to China in April. During the summer the China Pathways Program includes about 150 students from ten local school districts. Watertown is fortunate to have twenty seats in the program. See what this past year's China Pathways students experienced through this video tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOuyoLyAsOU

Engineering by Design
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Engineering by Design is a High School course, designed to pique students’ interest in the field of Engineering and to ‘demystify’ the discipline. It is taught by Matt Loughran and the curriculum is based on the National Center for Technological Literacy and Boston's Museum of Science Engineering the Future curriculum . Professional development for the course is provided by the Museum of Science, a leader in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education. There has been state and nationwide recognition of a need to re-vitalize and bolster the STEM disciplines, and we are confident and excited about this course’s potential to move our district in that direction. View a video about our Engineering by Deisgn class, reported in the Watertown TAB, October 2008.

FIRST Robotics
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The FIRST Robotics Competition is a well-established and highly successful hands-on program that engages high school students in science, engineering and technology. Teams of students partner with adult professional mentors and corporate sponsors to design and build an industrial grade mobile robot to compete in the annual US FIRST Robotics Competition, held in regional events across the country, in March. "Gracious Professionalism" is the guiding principle in the competition which is grounded in learning and collaboration much more than beating ones opponents. Watertown High School had a winning rockie team, the KwarQs, during the 2007-2008 school year and the KwarQs continue to design outstanding robots each year. Stay up-to-date with the KwarQs at http://whsrobot.blogspot.com/

High School Journalism - Raider Times
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The Raider Times made its debut in January 2008, with two issues published by the Journalism Club, under the direction of English teacher Maurin O'Grady. In 2008-2009, we started a new Journalism class, and it is continuing the Radier Times with five issues: Thanksgiving, Holiday, Valentine's Day, Spring, and Senior Souvenir. We have a Publishing Studio, with several computers and desktop publishing software. Students in the Journalism class, taught by English teacher Maurin O'Grady, hone their investigative and writing skills to design and publish this newspaper. We are planning to expand the Publishing Studio into a new Web 2.0 course for the 2010-2011 school year.

[Click below to read the Raider Times]

Media Production
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Watertown High School and Watertown Cable Access TV (WCATV) collaborate to ensure that students and the community are learning about video production and media literacy. This partnership started in September 2005, when the studio opened in its newly renovated space at Watertown High. The school has use of the studio and the studio has a terrific location in the school. The partnership has grown to include media and video production classes taught each morning for the high school students, by Media teacher Vera Ventura. During the afternoons, the station is open to the public, but students are also starting to use the studio for special projects. Tamarah Green, Executive Director of the WCATV, works closely with Headmaster Mike Noftsker and Ms. Ventura to ensure that morning and afternoon use of the studio is growing and improving.The Watertown High School YouTube video showcase is continuously showcasing new projects.

Virutal High School
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Watetown High School is a member of Virtual High School so that our students have the opportunity to take online courses which we do not offer. We have 50 VHS seats. Students take courses such as: AP Biology, AP Art History, Basic Mandarin, Creative Writing, spanish Literature, Oceanography, and Bioethics and Biotechnology. The VHS catalogue offers over 200 courses, including the core subjects, electives, and APs. Intersted students sign up for VHS courses through the Guidance Department. In March 2008 our VHS teacher and students made a presentation about thier experience learning online with VHS to the School Committee. See this presentation.

 

Contact the Webmaster Updated on: June 7, 2010